These data suggest a "stem" circuit that may be common to many patients with schizophrenia, but subsequent de novo mutations may explain the protean manifestations of the disorder. Alternatively, this prefrontal perturbation may be related to a heritable, i.e., not a somatic, mutation that explains 80 percent heritability but not the protean phenotypic expression of the condition. Finally, it may be the link between schizophrenia and some flavors of autism.